Stone Street - New York City

- By Vivienne Gucwa
Stone Street is a narrow cobblestone alley that was first developed by Dutch colonists in the 1600s. Its claim to fame is that it is New York City's first paved street and as such it is recognized as a historic landmark.
It's the main part of an area currently known as the Stone Street Historic District. Nestled among skyscrapers in the Financial District, it's something of a time machine back into another era of New York City's history. The street is the site where British merchants traded and sold goods, where American colonialists passionately spoke of independence and where tracts of land were purchased and sold (completely disregarding the earlier inhabitants of the area).
The Dutch West India Company first sold this area to European property owners in the mid 1600s. It was around 1658 that the street was paved. The name Stone Street actually came about in the late 1700s. Prior to being named Stone Street, this alley was called Hoogh Straet and then Brouwer Street and also spent some time as Duke Street. Since the street is so close to the waterfront, it was the site of a tremendous amount of commercial activity for two centuries.
In the mid 1800s, the area was destroyed by the Great Fire. Even though the Great Fire leveled hundreds of buildings in the area, the Stone Street district bounced back due to New York City having the leading maritime port in the country. However, in the mid twentieth century the area saw a decline due to maritime activity moving to the west side of Manhattan. In the mid 1990s, funding was secured to restore the area back to its former glory.
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Municipal Building - New York City - Towards the Light

- By Vivienne Gucwa
We move slowly towards the light over the cobblestones that the weary feet of all those who have passed over these same paths have passed before us. And through the archways and doors that sit in our immediate view, the city opens up like so many opportunities that sit every so slightly out of our reach.

Back in Time - Red Hook - Brooklyn - New York City

- By Vivienne Gucwa
There are streets and places that feel as if they have been taken out another time. They seem to exist independently of the world around them as fragments of history that have somehow made it into the present.
Sunny's is a 120 year old saloon that is located in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a neighborhood of New York City that has quite a colorful history. The bar is named after Antonio “Sunny” Balzano who was born in 1934 in the deep red brick apartment right next to the bar. Growing up near the waterfront in Red Hook in the 1940s, he would play alongside ship cargo and after surviving violent street brawls in the 1950s and the crime of the 1980s, he became the owner of the bar that neighbored the apartment where his life unfolded through the years.
The bar was originally run by Sunny's uncle where it revolved around the shipping industry. Longshoremen were the main clientele back then. When Sunny moved back home in the 1980s to take over the operations at the bar, the neighborhood was a shell of what it used to be. The shipping industry had moved its operations across the harbor to New Jersey and for quite a few years the streets remained quiet and Sunny operated the bar just to keep it open for a few neighborhood regulars.
Red Hook has since changed as it has been embraced by both developers, the arts community and families looking to settle down in a quiet part of Brooklyn. Sunny's still exists though, a testament to Red Hook's colorful history.
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Washington Mews - Greenwich Village - New York City

- By Vivienne Gucwa
There are streets that I revisit with regularity. These streets seem to call me back again and again. Tucked away and nearly hidden, they are treasure chests that open to reveal a wealth of nostalgia with every passing season. I used to come to this particular street quite a bit but it wasn't until a year or so ago that I learned about its history.
The street sits on land that in the 18th century was part of a large farm and contained private stables used by the families of men such as nineteenth century architect Richard Morris Hunt, John Taylor Johnston who was the founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , and Pierre Lorillard who was a prominent American tobacco manufacturer.
In the first half of the 20th century, a community of about 200 painters and sculptors flourished on this particular street and another adjoining street in the area. In 1903, a reporter for the New York Tribune wrote: "One finds a strange mixture of bales of hay and enormous blocks of marble, boxes of plaster and barrels of oats littering the roadways. Truckmen in greasy jumpers touch elbows now and then with the sculptors in their clay spattered working garb."
One of the more prominent artists who had a studio on this beautiful street was Edward Hopper. Edward Hopper lived close to Washington Mews at 3 Washington Square starting in December 1913 until his death in 1967.
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Streets of Summer Gold - Tribeca - New York City

- By Vivienne Gucwa
The first whispers of summer are carried on warm breezes urged on by the sun stretching itself out from under the faintest cover of clouds.
As cobblestone streets soak up each and every last bit of golden summer sunlight the buildings glow like fiery embers in the sun’s wake.
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In-Between Moments - Soho - New York City

- By Vivienne Gucwa
There is a certain serenity that can found when wandering New York City streets at night. These moments pause the forward motion and flow of city life. Street lights flicker against wet cobblestone and glass windows stare back languidly. Remnants of previous signs of life sit on curbs while bicycles lean against stoops resting briefly in the calm embrace of the night.
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Someone suggested a few months ago that a common theme to my photography was loneliness. I recounted to him how in the earlier days of posting my photography online, people would message me asking if I deliberately removed people from my shots. They couldn’t believe that in a city as densely populated as New York City, moments like the ones I am fond of capturing exist in reality. I can definitely say that I have never removed anyone from my shots.
The truth is that even in a city of a little over 8 million people, the city often pauses and takes a breath. The in-between moments where life empties from the streets, when the city becomes a private sanctuary are captivating.
These moments are fleeting and short-lived but they breathe life into the same streets that boast activity in the moments that tend to define them.
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